The increase in life expectancy at birth among Rwandans is one of the key aspects that stood out as the results of the fifth Population and Housing Census results announced on February 27.
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According to the findings, life expectancy increased from 64.5 in 2012 to 69.6 in 2022.
This puts Rwanda among the nine African countries - Morocco, Algeria, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya - with the highest life expectancy.
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In this article, The New Times explores the factors behind this development, and what it means for the Rwandan population as well as the government.
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In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Ignace Kabano, a senior lecturer of demography and statistics at the University of Rwanda’s department of applied statistics, said the rise in life expectancy can be mostly attributed to factors related to policies put in place to promote people’s welfare, especially in the health sector.
"For Rwanda, my understanding is that the increase in life expectancy has really relied on the improvement in health care. This increase started with the adoption of Community Based Health Insurance. Before this, many people were dying at home because they would not go to hospitals due to lack of money. Mothers who were delivering at home, and a number of them were dying in such circumstances,” he noted.
"In addition to this, after 2000, Rwanda came up with long term planning strategies for sustainable development. These were adopted to protect the population and increase the welfare of the people, not only in terms of healthcare. Death can be caused by a number of aspects including accidents and insecurity in the country,” he added.
He also hinted at the fact that Rwanda’s policies tend to reach out to almost all classes of people, and this also plays a role in increasing life expectancy.
"The USA for example, is a big country, economically and politically. However, the policies implemented there are more capitalist which means that healthcare services can be afforded by only a small percentage of people, while the lower strata of the population don’t have access. With such, the USA’s life expectancy is 77 years, just like that of Algeria.”
What to do going forward
As Rwanda’s life expectancy continues to improve, Kabano said, the country’s economy has the opportunity to improve. This is because the good welfare policies in place will facilitate the growth of healthy young people who, if given good education, can become technocrats and job creators.
"There is a need to reinforce the polytechnic and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) education. We advise planners to put emphasis and support on such, but also monitor the quality of education that these children are getting,” he noted.
Kabano also noted that the rise in life expectancy means that the population of older people is continuing to increase, and as a result, there is a need to put in place policies for ensuring that older people live well, and have fairly enough savings by the time they retire.
"The government will not have the funds to support them when they get vulnerable. If they save for themselves, they will have some capital to start a business when they retire. So, I encourage people to enrol in the Ejo Heza scheme,” he said.
"If a person saves in such a scheme, they can have Rwf 20 million or 40 million when they retire. So, they can buy a farm that can employ some people. This is good for them to continue contributing to the country, but also psychologically they will not feel like they have lost it all,” he added.